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Defense carries Southern Miss to Hawaii Bowl victory

Southern Mississippi quarterback Austin Davis tried to avoid Nevada defensive back Isaiah Frey during the Hawaii Bowl. Austin had two TD passes in the victory.

Austin Davis made the plays when it counted to send Southern Mississippi coach Larry Fedora out a winner.

Davis threw two touchdowns, including a 4-yarder late in the game, and No. 22 Southern Miss earned a school-record 12th victory by holding off Nevada 24-17 in the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu on Saturday night.

“It wasn’t his best game, but he did enough to help us win this football game,” said Fedora, who is leaving after four seasons to take over at North Carolina.

Davis overcame a shaky game for the Conference USA-champion Golden Eagles (12-2), and the defense in the second half managed to shut down Nevada’s potent pistol attack led by Lampford Mark.

“I thought we struggled the entire game offensively. We made a few big plays at the end, but really the defense, these guys were special and they’ve done that all year,” Davis said. “We made a play or two on offense when we needed to.”

AUBURN: One player – Devaunte Sigler – impressed nearly everybody on the defensive side of the ball during Auburn’s bowl practices for the Dec. 31 Chick-Fil-A Bowl matchup with Virginia.

Sigler has finally found a home. Brought onto campus as a defensive tackle, Sigler is starting to make big strides after moving permanently to defensive end late in the season.

“He looks like a different guy,” defensive line coach Mike Pelton said. “He’s a guy you’re going to talk about around here at Auburn for years to come.”

PENN STATE: A second man claiming he was sexually abused by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has begun legal proceedings against him. The man represents a 12th alleged victim of Sandusky.

The purported victim, identified in court filings as “C. Miller,” filed notice in Philadelphia of an impending suit and has 20 days to enter an outline of his allegations against the former coach.

His filing also names as defendants Penn State and the Second Mile – the nonprofit organization Sandusky founded for troubled youths.